The singularity is near : when humans transcend biology, Ray Kurzweil

For over three decades, Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classic The Age of Spiritual Machines, he argued that computers would soon rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now he examines the next step in this inexorable evolutionary process: the union of human and machine, in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our creations.--Publisher description

Prologue. The power of ideas -- 1. The six epochs -- The intuitive linear view versus the historical exponential view -- The six epochs -- Epoch one : physics and chemistry -- Epoch two : biology and DNA -- Epoch three : brains -- Epoch four : technology -- Epoch five : the merger of human technology with human intelligence -- Epoch six : the universe wakes up -- The singularity is near -- 2. A theory of technology evolution : the law of accelerating returns -- The nature of order -- The life cycle of a paradigm -- Fractal designs -- Farsighted evolution -- The S-curve of a technology as expressed in its life cycle -- The life cycle of a technology -- From goat skins to downloads -- Moore's law and beyond -- Moore's law : self-fulfilling prophecy? -- The fifth paradigm -- Fractal dimensions and the brain -- DNA sequencing, memory, communications, the Internet, and miniaturization -- Information, order, and evolution : the insights from Wolfram and Fredkin's cellular automata -- Can we evolve artificial intelligence from simple rules? -- The singularity as economic imperative -- Get eighty trillion dollars, limited time only -- Deflation ... a bad thing? -- 3. Achieving the computational capacity of the human brain -- The sixth paradigm of computing technology : three dimensional -- Molecular computing and emerging computational technologies -- The bridge to 3-D molecular computing -- Nanotubes are still the best bet -- Computing with molecules -- Self-assembly -- Emulating biology -- Computing with DNA -- Computing with spin -- Computing with light -- Quantum computing -- The computational capacity of the human brain -- Accelerating the availability of human-level personal computing -- Human memory capacity -- The limits of computation -- Reversible computing -- How smart is a rock? -- The limits of nanocomputing -- Setting a date for the singularity -- Memory and computational efficiency : a rock versus a human brain -- Going beyond the ultimate : pico- and femtotechnology and bending the speed of light -- Going back in time --

4. Achieving the software of human intelligence : how to reverse engineer the human brain -- Reverse engineering the brain : an overview of the task -- New brain-imaging and modeling tools -- The software of the brain -- Analytic versus neuromorphic modeling of the brain -- How complex is the brain? -- Modeling the brain -- Peeling the onion -- Is the human brain different from a computer? -- The brain's circuits are very slow -- But it's massively parallel -- The brain combines analog and digital phenomena -- The brain rewires itself -- Most of the details in the brain are random -- The brain uses emergent properties -- The brain is imperfect -- We contradict ourselves -- The brain uses evolution -- The patterns are important -- The brain is holographic -- The brain is deeply connected -- The brain does have an architecture of regions -- The design of a brain region is simpler than the design of a neuron -- Trying to understand our own thinking : the accelerating pace of research -- Peering into the brain -- New tools for scanning the brain -- Improving resolution -- Scanning using nanobots -- Building models of the brain -- Subneural models : synapses and spines -- Neuron models -- Electronic neurons -- Brain plasticity -- Modeling regions of the brain -- A neuromorphic model : the cerebellum -- Another example : Watts's model of the auditory regions -- The visual system -- Other works in progress : an artificial hippocampus and an artificial olivocerebellar region -- Understanding higher-level functions : imitation, prediction, and emotion -- Interfacing the brain and machines -- The accelerating pace of reverse engineering the brain -- The scalability of human intelligence -- Uploading the human brain --

For over three decades, Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classic The Age of Spiritual Machines, he argued that computers would soon rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now he examines the next step in this inexorable evolutionary process: the union of human and machine, in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our creations.--Publisher description

A controversial scientific vision predicts a time in which humans and machines will merge and create a new form of non-biological intelligence, explaining how the occurrence will solve such issues as pollution, hunger, and aging

Prologue. The power of ideas -- 1. The six epochs -- The intuitive linear view versus the historical exponential view -- The six epochs -- Epoch one : physics and chemistry -- Epoch two : biology and DNA -- Epoch three : brains -- Epoch four : technology -- Epoch five : the merger of human technology with human intelligence -- Epoch six : the universe wakes up -- The singularity is near -- 2. A theory of technology evolution : the law of accelerating returns -- The nature of order -- The life cycle of a paradigm -- Fractal designs -- Farsighted evolution -- The S-curve of a technology as expressed in its life cycle -- The life cycle of a technology -- From goat skins to downloads -- Moore's law and beyond -- Moore's law : self-fulfilling prophecy? -- The fifth paradigm -- Fractal dimensions and the brain -- DNA sequencing, memory, communications, the Internet, and miniaturization -- Information, order, and evolution : the insights from Wolfram and Fredkin's cellular automata -- Can we evolve artificial intelligence from simple rules? -- The singularity as economic imperative -- Get eighty trillion dollars, limited time only -- Deflation ... a bad thing? -- 3. Achieving the computational capacity of the human brain -- The sixth paradigm of computing technology : three dimensional -- Molecular computing and emerging computational technologies -- The bridge to 3-D molecular computing -- Nanotubes are still the best bet -- Computing with molecules -- Self-assembly -- Emulating biology -- Computing with DNA -- Computing with spin -- Computing with light -- Quantum computing -- The computational capacity of the human brain -- Accelerating the availability of human-level personal computing -- Human memory capacity -- The limits of computation -- Reversible computing -- How smart is a rock? -- The limits of nanocomputing -- Setting a date for the singularity -- Memory and computational efficiency : a rock versus a human brain -- Going beyond the ultimate : pico- and femtotechnology and bending the speed of light -- Going back in time --

4. Achieving the software of human intelligence : how to reverse engineer the human brain -- Reverse engineering the brain : an overview of the task -- New brain-imaging and modeling tools -- The software of the brain -- Analytic versus neuromorphic modeling of the brain -- How complex is the brain? -- Modeling the brain -- Peeling the onion -- Is the human brain different from a computer? -- The brain's circuits are very slow -- But it's massively parallel -- The brain combines analog and digital phenomena -- The brain rewires itself -- Most of the details in the brain are random -- The brain uses emergent properties -- The brain is imperfect -- We contradict ourselves -- The brain uses evolution -- The patterns are important -- The brain is holographic -- The brain is deeply connected -- The brain does have an architecture of regions -- The design of a brain region is simpler than the design of a neuron -- Trying to understand our own thinking : the accelerating pace of research -- Peering into the brain -- New tools for scanning the brain -- Improving resolution -- Scanning using nanobots -- Building models of the brain -- Subneural models : synapses and spines -- Neuron models -- Electronic neurons -- Brain plasticity -- Modeling regions of the brain -- A neuromorphic model : the cerebellum -- Another example : Watts's model of the auditory regions -- The visual system -- Other works in progress : an artificial hippocampus and an artificial olivocerebellar region -- Understanding higher-level functions : imitation, prediction, and emotion -- Interfacing the brain and machines -- The accelerating pace of reverse engineering the brain -- The scalability of human intelligence -- Uploading the human brain --